23 June 2014 17By Jerry HildenbrandGoogle is using some of their data center space to start up a service to help you register your own domain name on the Internet. The service, aptly named Google Domains is an invite-only beta for the time being, as we have come to expect whenever Google rolls out a new product or service...

15 May 2014 69By Andrew MartonikEven with threats from AT&T and Verizon, the FCC has gone forward and voted in favor of previously-proposed restrictions on the 2015 spectrum auction that will offer up valuable low-band airwaves to wireless carriers...

18 April 2014 116By Andrew MartonikAT&T threatens to not participate in the auction if rumored restrictions are put in place
An upcoming spectrum auction that will offer up airwaves previously reserved for broadcasters could actually give the most benefit to smaller mobile network providers. The auction, which will have highly-desirable 600MHz spectrum up for grabs, may have restrictions placed on it that will keep the big players Verizon and AT&T from snatching up too much. According to reports, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler plans to set up the auction in a way that smaller providers — such as T-Mobile and smaller regional carriers — will have a fair shot at buying some spectrum without being drastically outbid by the big money behind the leading carriers.
Chairman Wheeler explains that because Verizon and AT&T have taken advantage of their market position in past auctions they have snatched up a majority of the sub-1GHz spectrum across most of the country, while smaller carriers have traditionally relied on the less-efficient spectrum above 1GHz and even 2GHz in some cases. The proposed auction plans expect to restrict any single buyer from picking up more than one-third of the spectrum up for grabs in any given market — once they bid and control that amount, the other two-thirds will be up for sale to other carriers.
Naturally Verizon and AT&T aren't too happy about the situation, and AT&T in particular has made statements that it could possibly not participate in the auction altogether — even though it has participated in every major auction in the past — if the restrictions are put in place.
Source: WSJ

11 March 2014 214By Andrew MartonikIt's not much of a secret that Sprint intends to make a bid for smaller rival T-Mobile, but SoftBank CEO and Sprint chairman Masayoshi Son is making big claims about what the combined companies would do. Speaking in an interview on PBS, Son claimed that if a deal to let Sprint buy T-Mobile were agreed to and approved by U.S. regulators he would start a "massive price war" in the U.S. wireless market to challenge Verizon and AT&T.

13 February 2014 54By Andrew MartonikBoth entry-level and high-end devices with the Motorola brand will hit China and emerging markets
Motorola may have been hemorrhaging money under the control of Google, but Lenovo seems to think the company's losses will be an easy fix going foward. Following an earnings call for his company, CEO of Lenovo Yang Yuanqing proclaimed that when it comes to Motorola, "in a few quarters we can turn around the business."
Assuming that the necessary regulatory approval from the U.S. and China goes according to plan, Motorola will soon be owned by Lenovo and the transformation can begin. Yuanqing went on to explain that as soon as Lenovo owns Motorola outright, it "will relaunch and reintroduce the Motorola brand back to China and other emerging markets." Lenovo sold nearly 14 million of its own-branded phones in China just in Q4 2013 alone, up 47 percent from last year.
Source: Bloomberg

08 February 2014 85By Andrew MartonikTexas court rules AT&T has to choose a new color scheme for its budget prepaid brand
Following an extensive suit culminating in a three-day hearing, T-Mobile has won a court case finding that AT&T's prepaid brand Aio Wireless was using colors too similar to T-Mobile's in its branding...

04 February 2014 76By Andrew MartonikMotorola holds down the third-place spot with 6.7 percent of the market
Reporting its market share numbers for Q4 2013, comScore shows Android taking a small dip in overall share of the U.S. at the end of the year...

13 December 2013 282By Andrew MartonikT-Mobile, regulators likely aren't interested in such a monumental merger
If Sprint has its way, we may be headed towards just three major wireless carriers in the U.S. at some point in 2014...